Sealord and Whaling

Before you buy that next box of frozen fish at the supermarket, you might like consider whether the company is involved in commercial whaling.

Take the battle from the high seas to supermarket shelves. You will find Sealord frozen, canned and fresh fish products in Australian supermarkets, fast food outlets and restaurants. Sealord's parent company Nissui is directly linked to Japans commercial whaling, as it is a major shareholder of the company which owns Japan's whaling fleet. They also market and sell the whale meat throughout Japan.

So next time you shop send a message and don't buy Sealord products until they stop participating the needless killing of the whales... Consumer power really works.

What else can you do? Ask Sealord's boss Doug McKay to persuade their parent company Nissui to end the whale hunt.

Green Peace email action form

The Village 'Movie'

We seem to be having a good run of movies at the moment, this one has actually been out a while, but if you have not seen it, its so worth a evening infront of the box. Its NOT a slasher movie, just really really suspensful and scarrrrry.

At first glance this late nineteenth century village seems picture perfect. However, this close-knit community lives with the frightening knowledge that a race of creatures resides in the woods around them. The villagers share the fear of the evil and foreboding force that lurks outside.

So frightening that one dare not venture beyond "The Village" and into the woods. Despite the advice of his elders, a curious and determined Lucius Hunt has a burning desire to step beyond the boundaries of the town into the unknown.

The ominous presence of the unknown boils over into chaos for the town, with one's bravery being the only thing that can save them. The truce between "The Village" and the creatures is ending.... find someone to hold your hand for this one. You'll probably find it in the weekly section under thriller in your local Video Shop.... you'd think we call them DVD shops now! Go Figure.

Its all about Jane

A little History first. I met Jane when she moved to Nowra from Canberra, she was 13 and I was 16 and we went to Nowra High School. We where school friends and she was my first girl friend - we used to talk on the phone for hours and I was scared of her dad (still am a bit) she dropped me for my best friend Alan at Rosies' (aka Lee) 14th birthday party... If you know me and remember that party, I was not happy, but hey I SO deserved it. Anyway Jane and I have been friends ever since. I have a few friends from high school, a lot of great memories and they are all pretty damn special - I'm a lucky boy to have them.

Jane came to visit us for a week to hang out in the pottery studio, make candles, drink beer and eat yummy organic food and a bit of light shopping... and we did just that!

Tackie Christmas Dinner

Well it was a bit late this year, but hey whatever. For those who don't know, each year we have a big fancy dinner with our friends for 'Tackie Christmas'. You have to bring along a tackie gift under $10 and the winner get a trophy - the person who recipes the winning gift has to display it in there home for a year - lucky them. This years theme was string and as usual the gifts where of exceptional quality. This years winner was Jane and the gift was received by our friend Spence, we secretly think he liked it.



Photo 1: Jane receives trophy form Christopher
Photo 2: Spence and Jess with there lovely gifts
Photo 3: The winning tackie gift... nice.
Photo 4: Alex and his gift - what ever that's suppose to be

The Workout

This is a very funny little movie about a polar bear and a tread mill.

Shirley

Photo: Me and our new little chicks 'Peep & Shirley' when we first got them in April 2004.

I'm very sad today. One of our chickens 'Shirley' has gone missing - we think we had a visit from a fox, it was very foggy yesterday and they become quite brave. There is no sign of feathers or any kind of struggle. So Shirley either escaped over the fence and has become lost in the bush or has become dinner for a fox or dog. She was a bit of a crazy girl, a good layer and had quite a personality - I'll miss her. I become very bonded to all the animals, so any loss is difficult for me.

Blessed be little chicken.

Ken comes out!

I was cruising the net, checking out some cute guys, reading some blogs, when I came across Ken and Ken. Well its about time he came out and ditched Barbie, his much too cute and anatomically correct for her... I sure this photographer and Blogger has probably upset a few people, but I love it - very funny! This is his story... Ken Loves Ken

Hot day

MOOD: Hot

Yep its a hot dry windy day, I'm still loving it by the way - not the wind so much and its is really dry so bush fires can be a bit of a worry. I feel for our little animals, especially the sheep, they seem to be really uncomfortable, lucky they have only recently had their hair cuts. Gus (the dog) he eazy - I just take him off for a swim in the creek... he loves it :) Not much else to say today, just a quite day playing sim city and doing a bit of gardening.

We watched a really great movie last night, 'Donnie Darko' I was hesitant at first as I thought I'd would be really dark and it was a bit but also funny and had a great story line....

Donnie Darko is a disturbed adolescent (a bit cute by the way) from a semi-functional upper-middle-class family. After escaping from death when a jet engine that falls on his house, he follows the voice of a 6-foot-tall bunny (not the cute furry type) Donnie is led by the bunny to create havoc that is both destructive and creative. Bazaar yes, but a really fantastic story. I highly recommend it.

New Years Eve

Well its going to be a quite one this year.

That's Ok though, its not that much fun out with all the hoards anyway. Been there, hated that. Plus I just don't think I could ever top the fun Chris and I used to have at the hand in hand dance parties we used to go to when we where in Sydney and took drugs (not that you need to take drugs to have fun kiddies)... so why be disappointed I say.

We have a good life here and we have little animals that need our love and attention. I've got a few good DVD's and some beer in the fridge and my boy friend who will always be hot no matter where we are. At least I know I'll get a new years kiss and probably laid too :)

So happy new years all, have a good one. This is a photo of Chrisopher and I in our city apartment just about to go off to a dance party at fox studios in Sydney 2002.

Fence Building

Yep even a ex-city gay boys can build fences, in fact we are positively butch now-a-days.

This fence replaced the old wire one and doubled the size of our veggie garden and our little orchard. The sheep had started to push one old one down, they do love fruit trees.... yum.

We still have a bit to go yet but its looking good so far.

Weather

Well its finally warm in our little mountain village. and I'm a very happy camper. Shorts, no shirt, sandal's, warm nights, its great.

Have you every noticed how people love to talk about the weather (look I'm even doing it) of course the middle aged and elderly are complaining and can't help but ask you "is it hot enough for you" or "oh its going to be a hot one" or " oh its just so humid, couldn't sleep it was so hot".... well I LOVE IT. Its the cold I hate, and by the way its not really that hot here, max of about 32 degrees c, and we only get a couple of days that warm, down the mountain in Penrith its like 43 - that's a bit warm I must admit. Anyway if one more person mentions how hot it is, I think I'll just scream or maybe just burst into flames...

Photo of the day

ADSL been down, lightening stuck us in the middle of the night and fried the modem... Scarred the fu8k out of me.... anyway brought a new modem today and its all good again. This is my favorite photo I took this week.

Pottery Studio

Have not blogged for about 2 weeks now... too much bad stuff happening in the world and race riots in Sydney - I though writing about it would only get me more upset and pissed off then I already am about the whole state of affairs. What are we doing people... for fu*k sake get over it and get along... Violence achieves NOTHING, never has never will. I feel a great sadness wash over me when ever I turn on the news now-a-days... might have to stop watching.
Anyway enough of that... up here on our mountain top everything seems calm and we are very blessed to have a safe place live. Christopher and I have been very busy doing up the pottery studio in our back yard. We have painted it yellow and blue, very beachy and happy. Put in a work space for the pottery wheel and lots of shelving + fixed the roof and connected the power. I'm a very happy camper, it looks really great - thanks Chris for helping me. Its a really nice space and is demanding me to use it - I'm feeling very creative.

Universal pain

It is never ok to take another life, never.
Each and every one of us is a product of the society that we live in. We must take responsibility for every soul.

24-year-old Nguyen Tuong Van from Melbourne will be put to death by hanging tomorrow at sunrise for drug trafficking.

We'll probably still be asleep, warm in our beds - safe.

How do we know he's not capable of becoming a better person, how do we know that he's not already a better person than you and me. We all make mistakes, especially when we are young.

Is he not a product of our own culture and if so then surly we all stand responsible. Taking Nguyen Tuong Van's life will not fix the drug problem. Killing has never fixed anything, it only brings more pain.

We need to find the root of our problems. Why are people driven to drugs to crime to hate. I belief its a universal pain. Something that's deep inside us all, It seems that man is the only animal that does not know his place in this universe. We have become lost.

While in my garden I was thinking about the times I have taken recreational drugs. At first I thought - well I just did it because it was fun and as a young city guy - especially a gay one - its almost a right of passage - massive dance parties, sex and ecstasy. I had some great times.

But was I doing it just for fun? When you take drugs like that at a dance party, everybody's your brother and sister, you feel loved, you feel joy... the universal pain is masked by the drug. And that's it, the pain is temporarily gone - everyone feels free of it. And that's why the come down is so bad and that why it can be additive.

We spend our whole lives hiding from the pain deep inside us all. Masking it with drinking, with drugs, with busy-ness. No body wants to really look at it - not even me.

unfortunately I have no answers today. But I do know this, we are all connected and the pain won't go away until we stop and listen to our hearts, let go of our fears, our distrust our hate.

I am your brother, I'm not perfect, but I love you because we are all one.

Nguyen Tuong Van is our brother, his life is yours and its mine and tomorrow we'll have to try harder to mask that pain deep inside us all.

Blessed be.

SUN SUN SUN

The Sun finally shines again and my mood has lifted with the dark sky's and all is good again on the Alex show. I was going fu#king stir crazy indoors... Oh and Gus (the dog) is much happier too... outside laying the sunshine :)
Below is my photo of the day of our Broad Beans and Lupins in flower.

6 days of rain

Some days I feel so restless.
Become bored with everything.
A problem that has always haunted me.
Sometimes I get a strong urge to do bad things.
There not so bad really.
Contentment with my life fades away.

Other people are starving.
Other people are facing death.
Other people are lost.

How dare I complain.
About nothing really.
Just feelings.
Gone tomorrow.

A million thoughts in my head.
So many creative ideas.
So many stories.
It's hard for me to keep track of them all.
Am I crazy?

My life is so blessed.
I have all I could want.
Why want more.
Be happy Alex.
People love you.

Ten dollars and it's art

Went to the local markets. Picked up this really cool pot. Handed over $10. Put it on an old stump amongst the ivy. Filled it with water and whalla it's art!

Our Pet Sheep

Today we had our pet sheep Blossom and Lucy shawn. This is there second date with the shearer and they are not big fans of the whole shearing day thing. They did a awful lot of squirming and kicking when Don the shearer was giving them their hair cuts.

Don said most sheep run a mile when they see him coming, so from today's excitement Blossom and Lucy will probably do the same next year... we'll see.

They will be much cooler now though as I'm sure they get very hot in those big wolly jumpers now summers on it way.

They transform from great big wooly balls into thin little vulnerable waifs. I love our sheep, they are so sweet.

Growing potatoes in a bag

It can be difficult to find a new place to grow potatoes each year in a small garden. You can't use the last spot you grew them for another 2 years.

This year I'm trying some Toolangi potatoes in a large bag from a tree we brought at the Nursery. (you could also use a large pot) I figure this way I can change the soil each year, they will be really eazy to harvest and there is no chance of damage from the shovel which I won't even need. They seem to be going great, in fact they are twice the size as those in the normal garden beds.

You could use this method in the smallest of gardens or even on a balcony and you can't beat home grown organic potatoes.

HINT: Start with only a small amount of soil - just enough to cover the seed potatoes about 10cm deep. Every couple of weeks add more soil, covering the bottom leaves but leaving the tops to poke out of the soil. This way you'll get heaps more potatoes come harvesting time.

Make a bush star

I had some much fun making this bush star for our house, I though I'd inspire others to get out in the wild and be creative too.... It's really eazy and you can do it in an hour.


Materials:
12 branches about 70cm long similar thickness.
Thinner branches for decoration
Pruners & some reel wire

STEP 1
Trim branches to the same length
STEP2
Make 2 triangles, joining ends with wire
STEP 3
Place the 2 triangles on top of each other to form a star, wire together at all points of intersections
STEP 4
Twine lengths of smaller leaved branches around star to decorate